Arcs of Poust
by SilverSuitedPierrot
Summary: The world of the Zaintee.
1. Chapter 1

_"In the years of C'uni Diju when the God Vanio had turned against his brethren, the God Weztua was set to rule over the waters of Zaitne in place of Vanio. He held rule over the creatures, he directed the tides, and colored the waters to his liking; everything within the depths of the blue waters was his."One day, as Weztua traveled into the depths of his waters, he took notice of all the creatures. The small that used their quickness, the enormous who used their strength, and the inept that used their wit were all seen by the eyes of Weztua. His dark blue chest puffed as he admired his waters knowing that all the beautiful creatures within the depths were his, but the God could not help but feel at loss."_

_"As he hovered over the waters his messenger, Cua'ztua, came down from the Arcs of Poust. 'My God, my honorable one. I have come to see that you are well, but I do not seek an answer for I see you are at the highest pinnacle of your health.' Cua'ztua said, momentarily captivated by the waters. 'My God, Zaitne has flourished greatly under your rule.' He bowed his head, and closed his gills in respect."_

_"'Indeed it has Cua'ztua. You should come into the waters with me, I will let you experience it firsthand so that you may judge me.'"_

_The messenger gasped, "'I am not in the position to judge you, your righteousness.'"_

_"'Nonsense, I must show you my waters so that you may praise me on your way to the Arcs. Surely by then all of Poust will have known. I will then be assured of my position as ruler of Zaitne.'" _

_"As both of the holy ones entered the waters, Cua'ztua spoke up suddenly. 'Weztua will you fear when the sinister God Vanio comes to seize his right to the waters?'"_

_"'Cua'ztua I do not.'" The God looked at the messenger before him, then back to his webbed fingers that seemed to move flawlessly in the water. Cua'ztua floated in the waters bewildered yet fascinated by his God's concise, and fearless response. The God then swam swiftly down to a rock formation at the bottom of the depths, and beckoned his follower. "'Do you see these eggs, Cua'ztua? I have realized that there have been no people to worship me, and provide me with strength, so I have planted one male, and one female Zaintee' for every rock that takes refuge upon the depths.'"_

_"'But honorable one, our brothers will surely deject this idea! The Zaintee' have only had place in the Arcs of Poust, and no further! Pardon me for what I am about to say, but this is unheard of! Something beyond your control!'"_

_"'I will take responsibility for my future people. I will protect them so long as they worship me. I will grant them a conscience, and grant them speech so that they may understand me, and so I may understand them. I will grant them feeling so that they do not live as Xi'pi; mindless creatures that wander the depths in search for nourishment. All that I am capable of, I will grant them sparingly. I will tell them what is good and what is wrong, and they will listen. And you Cua'ztua will be present at every birth, to be witness to my will.'"_

_"The messenger once again closed his gills, and looked up at his God. 'As you wish, honorable one.'"_

_"As promised Weztua enacted his will onto all of his Zaintee, and Cua'tzua was present all of those times. Then there came a time when God Vanio looked over to his brother, Weztua, from the darkness of Di'Nali'Hah and became infuriated. His spirit filled with jealousy, and his thoughts clouded with vengeance. In the early hours of the day Vanio snuck up into the waters of his brother when his brother was resting, and placed a curse on his people."_

_"The waters became a sickly brown, and the Zaintee immediately became blind. They swam away from each other in fear, thinking they had fallen into the darkness of Di'Nali'Hah. When Weztua had awoken he was enraged. Thousands of Xi'Pi had been released into the waters, and had been made to the size of underwater boulders. Their tentacles lashed out at Weztua's people, killing them instantly."_

_"Remembering his will, and knowing he was being watched from the Arcs of Poust, he acted in the only way he knew how to; he began to mercilessly kill off the giant Xi'Pi in order to maintain the covenant between his people, and him."_

_"Weztua had had enough of the Xi'pi, and made himself to tower over them, spearing them with his Nuat. He killed hundreds over hundreds, and finally came down to one. It had a circular membrane placed above its tentacles, it was different than the others. 'The last will surely be my trophy.'"_

_As the final Xi'pi fell into death, he grabbed the Xi'pi and placed it atop of his had as a crown. He looked down to his people, and saw that they still swam blindly in the water. "'Because my people have been blinded in their waters, may there be land for them to rest on, so that I may cleanse the water of Vanio's curse. May they be able to breathe air, and water as I have done for many centuries, so that they may adapt to my new Zainte."_

_Terrain surfaced from the waters, and the Zaintee' walked on land, built homes, and communities. Vegetation grew, and animals were provided to be feasted upon. Weztua looked down from the Arcs, and smiled warmly at his people._

_"'You have done well, Youngest. May your people flourish, and worship you.'" Bue looked down at his son, and his newly created world. He brought his hand to his son's face enveloping his features in his webbed hands. 'Respect.'"_

_"Weztua's head gleamed in triumph when his father removed his hand from him. He had finally gained his place in Poust. 'Father I will see you tomorrow, as I have duty to my people who are calling upon me."_

_"Bue nodded, and passed through Arcs of Poust."_

_"Weztua looked to his side, and said, 'I need a woman by my side to help me bring love and compassion to my people.' So the God looked down to his world to search for a worthy female, and spotted one near the city of Aws'er."_

_"She was making the ritual circle which was made up of smooth pebbles, and as she placed the colored water in the center she was visited by the God himself. 'Hu'Diju. I am Weztua, God of Zainte, and its people. I am here to take you as my wife.' The woman looked at him startled."_

_"' But God Weztua I am not fit to be your wife.'"_

_"'Nonsense, as a sign of your compassion to me, make a ring to fit your head. Make the ring of something that you hold dearest to you, and when you have created it, ask for me in your prayers, and I shall take you away to the Arcs of Poust to be my wife.'"_

_"When Weztua announced that one of his people was to be his wife, his brother Vanio saw that she was beautiful. When his brother was being congratulated Vanio stole the ring from Hu'Diju's head, and Weztua exclaimed, 'That ring is not yours to take!'"_

_"Hu'Diju was beyond the first stages of anger, and had gone up to the God himself, and snatched the ring from his malicious hands. Vanio had never been challenged by a woman, and so his surprise led him to be unguarded; Hu'Diju grabbed Weztua's Nuat and killed Vanio with a quick stab to the chest."_

_"'You have caused great disrespect unto my husband, and death has been your punishment.'"_

_"Weztua looked at his wife in amazement, and smiled broadly. 'Surely you will stay by my side for eternity, and guard me as you have? And teach me love, and compassion so I may one day produce the strongest of descendants with you?' His wife stood before him, and he saw that her gills were closed, and brought his webbed fingers to her features, as a great wave of admiration came over him. 'Respect.'"_


	2. Chapter 2

"_No, no, no! You're doing it wrong! Focus Sa'Diju!_"

The fallen spear was thrust back into the young Zaintee's hands, causing her to stumble over the moss at the bottom of the river. With a sharp inhale of air and a flare of her nostrils she was able to find her balance, and turn back to the large female instructor in spite; she was fuming.

"_Then what am I doing wrong?" _She snarled. Sa'Diju was sick of training, two hours was enough for her. All this stalking and spearing was gradually getting on her nerves.

_"You need to concentrate, here, come to me_." The older female gave her a warning growl, and when she saw the young female flinch she went on to place Sa'Diju in front of her body. Much to the young ones protests, here she would be able to properly manipulate the girl's movement, and show her exactly what she was doing wrong. After all, what good would it be to simply belittle her from afar? "_Look at me, and look at you. My stance is low, back erect, I am able to handle my weapon and not worry about losing my footing_. _Now look at you, you're arching like a Gyu tree, you need to bend your knees, and open your stance_. _If you do not you will be easily swayed by the river, and spearing will be more difficult_-"

"-_A Gyu tree, seriously? The only reason you're being so hard on me is because you're a trained hunter Kv'_var_-_**de**_, you Yautja were made for this!" _Sa'Diju then continued ranting hoping that the large huntress would finally get sick of her and call it a day, and let her go home and eat all of the fish her father had caught the night before. Maybe even some of that purple Ni jelly. "_Zaintee and Yautja are two totally different species! We aren't the same natural born killers you guys are . . . We're not as big, or strong as you are . . . I don't think I'm even as coordinated . . . And you've had years of practice, and I've only started three weeks ago! Cut me some slack!" _

Sa'Diju let her body slack against the large Yautja female, her left hand coming up to brush away the salty streams of sweat that had formed above her brow. She didn't dare look up at the larger female so she kept her eyes down completing the tired, jaded look she was hoping to depict. Had it worked?

"_Fine_."

"_Yes_!" Sa'Diju cheered and pushed herself off of the huntress' scaly abdominal muscles, putting her hands in the air to stretch her fingers. She then bent down, cupping some cool water from the river, and brought it to her face. "_Mmm . . ._"

But of course, Kv'var-de wasn't going to let her get away so easily. She hadn't changed _that_ much. "_But . . . you cannot leave until you fetch me a fruit from the Gyu tree sitting across from this river_."

"_Easy! Just got to use the Gyu_-"

"-_No. You cannot use anything that has been given to you. You must make use of your surroundings._" The huntress smiled smugly when the young female let go of her belt, sending her a face that clearly said '_Are you crazy_?'. That'll keep her busy.

"But Kv'vaaar. . . I can't do it . . . without . . . ugh." Sa'Diju didn't say more after that because she realized the huntress didn't give a 'flying fuck' (as her mother would say when she didn't care), and so she turned back to the stupid tree. And a stupid tree it was.

It was at least three Zaintee's tall, and the average Zaintee was about six feet tall; it was the second tallest tree in the city of Aws'er. Sa'Diju clawed at her hand anxiously, a bad habit she had picked up from her father that easily gave away her cluelessness on the matter.

Gyu trees weren't impossible to climb, the only problem was that they were unbelievably slick. One needed to use Gyu Hook-Daggers in order to climb it. The Hook-Daggers were composed of large black chunks of rocks that were later shaped to curve inwards in order to dig into the slime, and bark of the Gyu tree. The same jelly that Sa'Diju had craved earlier would be found in one of the fruits of the Gyu tree, and she was beginning to think the large huntress was trying to get her killed. Slipping to her death from a Gyu tree would be the perfect cover up. It wasn't uncommon to say the least.

Sa'Diju walked around the tree, a full 360 degrees, before looking back at her instructor. The huntress was sitting atop of a boulder near the river, watching her, arms crossed. Kv'var-de couldn't believe the young Zaintee hadn't noticed the large broken tree branch five feet behind her, and had nearly broken into a laugh. Even a pup would have noticed it without even realizing what purpose it could fulfill.

"_Could you give me a hint, or something? I have no idea what I'm doing _. . . "

"_No. You need to figure this out on your own, I will not be here to hand you everything at will. Just look carefully for answers." _ There, it wasn't much of a hint, but Sa'Diju would probably figure it out. Or at least that is what Kv'var-de hoped.

"_Just look carefully for answers? What the- OH_!" When Sa'Diju heard the huntress trying to give her advice she had been looking up at the tree tops of the forest behind her, thinking of a plan that involved her swinging like a lunatic over the other trees, and when she got enough momentum on the closest tree she would throw herself onto the Gyu tree. But once she decided she would probably slip and die, she looked down at the floor, over the mushroom and bushes and had spotted the fallen branch. "_Thanks Kv'var_ . . . "

* * *

Ripping off the smaller branches off of the giant log was not easy. Splinters had cut and peeled at her sleek skin, Sa'Diju thought a simple tug would get the weedy-like sticks off but the weedy sticks had contradicted her theory with a nice needle-like wave of splinters. Right now, Sa'Diju was trying to sharpen the tips with her short but sharp claws.

Kv'var-de on the other hand was dozing off, swaying left to right as her eyelids drooped, mouth shut, mandibles slack; she had been recovering from a late night hunt when Sa'Diju's father had called her to remind her of the training. The sun was setting, and the light was disappearing. They should really get going before the creatures start prowling about, hunting for their next late night meal. They really should have left when they had the chance. Kv'var-de was the first to realize it.

"_Sa'Diju! We have to leave, there's . . . Watch out_!"

Sa'Diju stood abruptly, daggers in hand, staring wearily at the beast in front of her. "_Easy there, you don't have to kill me, see this_?" She grabbed her cheek, and stretched it. Talking to it, though completely useless, kept her immense amount of fear from erupting from her volcano of a skull. "_Not that much of a filler, nope, so why don't you just let me_-"

The huntress could see the creature slowly inching towards her pupil, and she feared the worst. Sa'Diju was still an Un-Blooded in her terms, so she immediately tried to get the creature to focus its attention on her, so that Sa'Diju would have the chance to run while she killed it. Po'crea were very aggressive creatures. "_Don't try to reason with it, you've already bared your teeth, it thinks you're challenging it_!"

Its neck snapped so fast that Sa'Diju could've sworn it had torn all of its muscles just to get a look at Kv'var-de's growling form. Of course it would have to kill the Walker, it challenged him, and he would demonstrate his dominance, and power by killing it with his glorious jaws. The other green Walker would have to wait because he was not stupid, and knew his weaknesses; he wouldn't be able to fight two armed Walkers at once. Unfortunately the creature twisted its head back to the female that had challenged it. The creature gave an irritated roar.

Sa'Diju had taken the chance to run into the forest when the creature, and her instructor had decided to have a staring contest. Yes, it was stupid that she was running deeper into the forest knowing that if the creature had survived her instructor it would have the upper hand, but she was trying to find the river that ran down the side of the forest. If she could find the river, Aws'er was close by. She closed her eyes, waiting for the scent to hit her. _Trees, wood, dirt, rock, bush, fruit, sweat, flower, blood- . . . Blood._

It was there again. _Wasn't it fighting Kv'var-de?_

With a swipe of its massive paw it sent Sa'Diju soaring, the tree stopping her with a _crack!_ As she tried to stand a million thoughts flew into her head: _You're going to die, it's going to rip you open with its mouth, rip you to pieces until you're unrecognizable, Kv'var-de's probably dead, Oh dear Weztua, this thing is going to get me . . ._

It came closer as Sa'Diju fought the pain that was flowing through her body and managed to sit upright. Her daggers were behind her back; she was ready to fight for her right to live.


End file.
